Tis past-thy name, with every charm it bore, Melts on our souls, like music heard 10 more, The dying minstrel's last ecstatic strain, But, if, blest spirit! in thy shrine of light, Permit communion with this world of woe; Hope mocks us not, for Heaven inspires the dream Benignant shade! the beatific kiss That seal'd thy welcome to the shores of No holier joy instill'd, than thou wilt feel A Sire's, a Husband's, and-a Mother's Till Pity's self expire, a Nation's sighs, And, 'midst the dark vicissitudes that wait Be thou OUR angel-advocate the while, The volume concludes with a very humourous address to "The Reviewers," in which the following simile struck us as being particularly true and happy. As some raw 'Squire, by rustic nymphs admir'd, Of vulgar charms, and easy conquests tir'd, Resolves new scenes and nobler flights to dare, Nor "waste his sweetness on the desert air," To town repairs, some fam'd assembly With red importance blust'ring in his cheeks; At once confounded into sober sense, Retreats, to ponder on the thing he is." But, Critics, hear! an angel pleads for me, That tongueless, ten-tongued cherub, Modesty. Sirs! if you damn me, you'll resemble those That flay'd the Traveller who had lost his clothes; &c. All this seems to us pleasant and unconstrained writing; and we take our leave of Mr.. Gent, wishing his little volume all the success which it deserves. A VISION OF JUDGMENT, BY ROBERT SOUTHEY, POET LAUREATE. This poem is dedicated to the king, -being, as is stated in its preface, a tribute to the memory of his father. It is, in short, one of the Laureate Odes, or an equivalent for one,and we intreat our readers, in consideration of these circumstances, to allow Mr. Southey the extremity of forbearance, if any of the extracts require animadversion; and at the same time to attribute the absence of such, on our part, to some other cause than remissness. We confess that our acquaintance with the long file of these courtly offerings, is wholly inadequate to support the distinction" of intimacy;" but we will make bold to assume, that the present differs from its predecessors, in tone of thought and feeling, as little as their warmest admirers could desire. Mr. Southey, in conceding this point to custom, (and he was not always so obedient to her claims,) has, however, made ample amends to his own love of experiment, by adopting the long disused hexameter verse; and this, indeed, appears to us the only curious element of the poem. A preface is prefixed in explanation and defence of this unEnglish metre, which is too long and continuous for the purpose of extracting; and the specimens, that we shall presently make room for, are more likely to sway our readers, either to approval or distaste, than any thing in the shape of argument. It is but fair, however, to mention, that Sir Philip Sydney, and a few of his contemporaries, had made the same experiment as Mr. Southey, and failed to win the public consent. The Vision opens with the following lines, which any "reader of poetry will find little difficulty in managing the only requisite being breath. "Twas at that sober hour when the light of day is receding, And from surrounding things the hue wherewith day has adorn'd them Fade, like the hopes of youth, till the beauty of earth is departed; Pensive, though not in thought, I stood at the window, beholding Mountain and lake and vale; the valley disrobed of its verdure; Derwent retaining yet from eve a glassy reflection Where his expanded breast, then still and smooth as a mirror, Under the woods reposed; the hills that calm and majestic, Lifted their heads in the silent sky, from far Glaramara, Bleacrag and Maidenmaur, to Grizedal and westermost Withop. Dark and distinct they rose. The clouds had gather'd above them High in the middle air, huge, purple, pillowy masses, While in the west beyond was the last pale tint of the twilight; Green as a stream in the glen whose pure and chrysolite waters Flow o'er a schistous bed, and serene as the age of the righteous. Earth was hush'd and still: all motion and sound were suspended : Neither man was heard, bird, beast, nor the humming of insect, Only the voice of the Greta, heard only when all is in stillness. Pensive I stood and alone, the hour and the scene had subdued me, And as I gazed in the west, where infinity seem'd to be open, Yearn'd to be free from time, and felt that this life is a thraldom. Thus as I stood, the bell which awhile from its warning had rested, Sent forth its note again, toll! toll! through the silence of evening. 'Tis a deep dull sound that is heavy and mournful at all times, For it tells of mortality always. But heavier this day Fell on the conscious ear its deeper and mournfuller import, Yea in the heart it sunk; for this was the day when the herald Breaking his wand should proclaim, that George our king was departed; Thou art released! I cried: thy soul is de liver'd from bondage! Thou who hast lain so long in mental and visual darkness, Thou art in yonder heaven! thy place is in light and in glory. Come, and behold!-methought a startling voice from the twilight Answer'd; The Trance, the Vault, the Awakening, and the Gate of Heaven, (which are the titles of the first four chapters) are then rapidly presented-at the latter an angel stood Ho! he exclaim'd, King George of England cometh to judgment! "The accusers" who come from "the blackness of darkness," are, we suppose, Wilkes and Junius (for Mr. Southey gives the names of "the sovereigns," "the elder worthies," "the worthies of the Georgian age," and "the young spirits" alone, and charitably leaves the bad to conjectural baptism;) the first from (among other marks) "the cast of his eye oblique," and the latter, because Mask'd had he been in his life, and now a visor of iron Rivetted round his head had abolish'd his features for ever. Speechless the slanderer stood, and turn'd his face from the monarch Iron-bound as it was, so insupportably dreadful Soon or late to conscious guilt is the eye of the injur❜d. After the discomfiture of the accusers, The Absolvers' are summoned in the persons of those who on earth had arraigned him'-these also are nameless, with the exception of Washington, who, though the slowest to absolve, is, however, compelled, somewhat reluctantly to attest, that the king had acted as befitted a sovereign.' • The beatifica tion' follows of course, and the remainder of the poem is consecrated by the calendar of saints, who greeted the monarch and his laureate on their admission, and were thereafter to be associated with the former. Alfred, Charles I, Nassau the Deliverer,' Elizabeth, the Duke of Marlborough, Perceval, Cranmer, Wesley, are among the foremost-and Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton, and Spenser are likewise presented on this occasion, probably in compliment to the poet-for the King cared, we suspect, very little about them. This conjecture is strengthened by the introduction of Cowper, Kirke White, Bampfylde, and one or two others, who would not be the very first objects of research, in a place so abundant with the noblest in renown,' to many even among the poets, but who might be well conceded to Mr. Southey's known partiality for their company. The poem concludes with the author's precipitate return to the earth, where he (and his language is that of complaint) instead of the rapturous sound of hosannahs, Heard the bell from the tower, toll! toll! through the silence of evening. PARIS, SECOND PART. BY THE REV. GEO. CROLY, AM. When twilight o'er Cythera's wave of green Anon, upon him rush'd the ecstasy, circumstances connected with the fall The Venus de' Medici. And have I then forgot thee, loveliest far Thy star should crown thee with its light There stands the goddess by the Grecian seen In the mind's lonely, deep idolatry; White meteors shot along the distant flood, That with their breasts the green to silver Young Venus! round thy throne, in its The shore is reach'd; and fear, bewitching Is in her bending form, and glancing eye, Yet has it heav'd her bosom's ivory; Venus, thou'rt lovely, but on other feet MR. MATURIN. We noticed last month a new poem announced to be in the press, from the pen of Mr. Maturin, entitled The Universe.-If he goes on thus he must soon "imagine a new one. A new tragedy, of which we hope soon to give some account, and four volumes of a fresh romance, are also forthcoming. By the by-we promised to say something about his wild, fantastic, and,-no, not natural-but legitimate child of genius, Melmoth. We shall endeavour to keep our word in May. MR. BOWYER'S PRINT. A very highly embellished account of events connected with the late memorable trial, is about to issue from the hands of Mr. Bowyer of PallMall. We have been favoured with a sight of the picture of the House of Lords, by Stephanoff-it is quite illusion-Mr. Brougham rubbed his eyes that he might be sure he was in Pall-Mall after viewing it. No less than seventy peers have sat to Mr. Bowyer for their likenesses. A volume of essays, under this title, is, we understand, in the press. We quote, from memory, the heads of some of the chapters. The past and the future," Character of Cobbett, People with one idea,' -The Indian Jugglers,' On living to one's self,'- On Country The atres,' On Sir Joshua Reynolds's discourses, and various others.That Mr. Hazlitt is a man of undoubted and original mind, no one who has read any of his books can well refuse to acknowledge. Perhaps there is no living writer who combines so much fancy and occasional pathos with qualities of a more stern and logical cast as he does; and we believe, that no one ever ventured to consult his own nature more closely than himself, or to display with greater truth the treasures derived from such investigation. The vanity of men in general prevents their 'looking at home' for information : 68 they would rather consult the structure of their neighbours' minds than their own, and they are consequently content to sit down with but half of the knowledge which they might otherwise acquire. Had Mr. Godwin forborne in this manner, when be wrote St. Leon' and Fleetwood, he would never have developed the strange and fluctuating characters of his heroes with the magnificent effect that we know he has done. A good deal of this fearless and profound self-investigation is, we think, discernible in the writings of Mr. Hazlitt, though it is necessarily less apparent in a book made up of essays on various subjects, than in the biography, or rather in that anatomy of character which Mr. Godwin has exhibited in almost all his works of fiction. We shall take an early opportunity of noticing Mr. Hazlitt's volume. MR. SOANE'S MUSEUM. The gallery which the Professor has now completed, at his residence in Lincoln's Inn Fields, cannot fail to excite great interest among the admirers of architecture; and we doubt not, but that the liberality of Mr. Soane will, under proper limitations, allow professional men and amateurs to have access to the stores which it contains, and to the valuable studies which it presents. The collection is distributed through four principal rooms; and the effect of the general arrangement, and the ensemble, is very striking, owing to the tasteful decorations of the apartments, and the judicious manner in which the light is introduced. Be sides the valuable architectural models and fragments, the Vases, Cinerary Urns, and specimens of Etruscan art, the walls of one of the rooms are covered with architectural paintings and drawings, by Canaletti, Clerisseau, and the Professor himself. The library too presents a rich assemblage of every architectural work of importance, several of which are exceedingly rare and costly. It is gratifying to see an artist thus unequivocally displaying that disinterested enthusiasm for his art, which ought ever to distinguish the professors of a liberal and elegant science. We admire Mr. Soane's zeal, we commend his taste, and we farther hope that the example which he has here given, may incite others to an honourable emulation. Certain we are, that whatever may have been his occasional errors and delinquencies in matters of taste, no one has displayed greater energy, zeal, and perseverance in the cause of architecture, or has more warmly advocated its interests. His best works present many elegant embellishments, and a delicacy of decoration that deserves to be studied by his successors. His lectures-but we do not intend to write a panegyric-our only object was to point out to the admirers of the Fine Arts, a private museum which reflects honour on the liberality and zeal of its possessor, and which deserves to obtain a place on the list of the objects of attraction in our metropolis. THE CHALCOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION. In addition to the usual exhibitions, forming so prominent a feature among the amusements of the metropolis during spring, and visited from such opposite motives by the indolent and the sedulous, the intelligent and the vacant, the men of taste and the mere men of ton, the bees and the butterflies of societythere is announced an Exhibition of Engravings by living artists, which is intended to be opened about the middle of the present month, at a gallery now fitting up in Soho square. For the accomplishment of this desirable project, which would otherwise have been abandoned in an early stage, the public are, we understand, indebted to the exertions of an individual artist, who is willing to incur the whole risk of the undertaking, not, however, with any view to private emolument, but with the hope that it may prove ultimately beneficial to the profession at large. It is somewhat extraordinary that this class of artists should not have before resorted to so obviously beneficial a mode of displaying their works: perhaps they have hitherto deemed it less necessary for them than for their graphic brethren of the palette, because the shop of the printseller has formed, as it were, a permanent and interesting gallery, presenting a constant succession of novelties, whether to the glance of the profaner passenger at the window, or to the gaze of those initiated into the adytum of the fane. Still the adoption of the present plan appears highly commendable and judicious : it will annually concentrate upon one spot all the finest and most exquisite productions. We hail it too as an indication of zeal and effective energy, for it originates, we are persuaded, in feelings more connected with art than with trade. While upon this subject, we will notice an obvious desideratum that is capable of being easily supplied, viz. a complete and correct list, published periodically (like those of books, in the Magazines) and noticing every new print, of whatever description it may be, together with its size and price. The inconvenience arising from the want of some such intelligence is not strikingly felt by the residents of the metropolis, but it is by the distant amateur and collector, who frequently continue ignorant of the existence of what they would otherwise introduce into their portfolios. |